The Arrow's Blinding Light
by SeleneSkies
Summary: Yumi Arisagawa is a normal, fifthteen year old schoolgirl. She has an almost perfectly normal life. That is.. Until she's sucked into VRMMO Sword Art Online. In a fight to escape this Death Game, she meets friend and foe. Will she and her friends escape the game, or will they be one of thousands of the game's victims?
1. Chapter 1: Twining The Threads Of Fate

**Chapter 1 : Twining the Threads of Fate**

 _Yokohama, Japan_

 _Sunday, November 6, 2002, 6:35 AM_

A deep voice yells into her ear. Yumi Arisagawa yawned and rubbed her eyes. She slowly opened them.

"Arisagawa, if you don't get up right now, the crowd just might stampede you right now.."

Yumi blinked against the bleariness, squinting as the light of the neon sign blinded her. Then everything came flooding back to her. She quickly scrambled up, hitting a hard figure.

 _OOF!_

Heat rushed into her cheeks. Yumi helped the person up. "Oh, I'm sorry! Are you okay?"

"I am, but you look horrible."

Her heart lurched. It was one of her friends that came with her to the town's game store, _PixelBomb._ His name's Kyoko Iwashiro. Class clown and one of her bestest friends. Last week, at her birthday her mom had wrapped up a _NerveGear._ Then my brother presented me with a large wad of cash. I was so excited, I nearly hugged them to death. I didn't know what to blow the cash on, but I was going to find out. Then Kyoko had been talking about how he was going to get Sword Art Online. Supposedly the game was supposed to be a nearly realistic virtual world you play by putting on NerveGear. So here we are. I just hope the game lives up to it's reputation.

Yumi stifled a shriek. "What happened? Did the line move up? Did we lose our spot?"

Kyoko smirked. "Relax. Look, don't get your panties in a wad. We're moving up. And I'm pretty sure the game's still going to be there.

Yumi rolled her eyes at that second remark. Pervert.

She looked up into his eyes, noticing now how he was trying not to laugh.

"What? What's so funny?", Yumi asked. She lifted a brow at him.

Kyoko grinned. "Nothing, it's just you look like hell right now.."

"Same goes to you.", Yumi smiled and pointed at his hair. Dark orange, nearly red, hair stuck out all over the place. A strand, as if cued, fell across his eyes.

He scoffed, and failed attempting to fix it back in place. Yumi noted the very light blush that covered his cheek just then, inwardly giggling.

Kyoko looked up, noticing the glimmer in her eyes and lightly ruffled her hair.

Yumi puffed out her cheeks and glared at him. He in turn put on a dark scowl. After a short time we both laughed. "Okay, Yumi, one of us has to stay behind while the other goes to get the food. I'll go get the-"

A loud rumbling sound touched my ears. I stared at him questioningly and realized it'd been my own. I felt my face turn beet red as I stared at him, daring him to say something.

"Damn, Yumi. Not very could've just told me you were hungry... I would've given you my last energy ba-"

A girl had snuck up behind him, one hand covered over his mouth, the other hand out behind her. "Kyoko, stop screwing with Yumi.

The girl, Hoshiko held out the bag in her other hand, letting go of Kyoko to fumbling around in it. "Yumi, I got riceballs!" She smiled, flashing her whites and held one out to Yumi.

Yumi grinned gratefully at her and took one.

 ** _Sunday, November 6, 2002, 11:35 AM_**

They'd been in luck. The three of her friends that'd actually stayed to wait for the game (the other two bailed out) all got copies. They actually got some of the last few copies in Japan. After Yumi had gotten her skateboard and waved bye to her friends, she rode straight home, thinking of the game.


	2. Chapter 2: And I Saw

**Chapter 2 : And I Saw**

 _Yokohama, Japan_

 ** _Sunday, November 6, 2002, 12:05 AM_**

 ****Yumi pushed her way through the front door, trying not to knock it down. She ran up the steps into her room, looking for the annoying pipsqueak, Takayuki. Who also happens to be her little brother. Who knows what'll happen if he got his grubby little hands on her _NerveGear_...

Yumi closed the door behind her. She walked to the closet and slowly opened the slide door. She only saw her wardrobe. Yumi sighed in relief.

 _Okay, the coast's clear._

Yumi shrugged off her backpack and put it on her bed. She looked around her room. Yumi was in art class, so she often painted the walls. She'd painted the ceiling with a picture of the night sky. Her PC was softly humming across the bedroom, in the corner. Along the wide side of the wall on the other side, a 24" flat screen was off, reflecting the room. And just outside her window was her grand Hanging Garden. She'd planted some bamboo and orchids when she was nine, and they always set the mood.

A yawn slipped her lips, and she realized she was drifting to sleep. She patted both sides of her cheeks. _Not yet! Not until I setup my NerveGear and try out the game!_

Yumi lopped off to the bathroom and turned on the faucet. She washed her face and hair, working fast but making sure not to rush too fast. She wrapped her hair in a towel and looked at herself. She was average height. Yumi had light, purple hair with sunlit streaks in it and golden brown eyes. She also had a faint spotting of freckles across her nose.

A lavender lock drooped onto the middle of her face. She blew it to the side.

She pulled off the towl, hung it, went back into her room and to her backpack. She fumbled, pulling out the box. She stared at the cover. A giant castle hung in the sky. She'd done some researching on it on her PC. The castle was called Aincrad. _Sword Art Online_ was created by Akihiko Kayaba, a big shot in the gaming industry. He'd designed the Cardinal System, the program that ran _Sword Art Online,_ and _NerveGear,_ fulldive technology.

Yumi ran to her PC and opened the box, opening the CD drive and putting the game in. She quickly set up the game and made an account. Then she put on the _NerveGear._ Then she saw a tutorial. She followed the instructions, touching herself on specific parts of her body. When she was done, Yumi yelled out, "Link, START!"

Yumi saw colors shoot past her and she felt, for a moment, as if she were falling into the center of those colors. Then a language configuration appeared. She selected Japanese. Then after another window disappeared, something came up.

 _Would you like to create a new character?_

She looked over the options and found the yes button. She was startled when a character popped up with options. Yumi saw the _Name Character_ button. Yumi thought of it for a while, then put in _Akira_. Yumi's mother had a sister who died three months after she was born. She had been called Akira, which meant "bright", or "clear".

Yumi found the _Done_ button and tried that eye thing she did earlier. A soft blue light flooded the screen and she felt the ground lurch beneath her.


	3. Chapter 3: Where Dreams Became Reality

~ **Chapter 3 : Where Dreams Became Reality** ~

 _Floor 1, Aincrad_

The Town of Beginnings

 ** _Sunday, November 6, 2002, 1:03 PM_**

Then she was suddenly standing on solid ground. The light intensified in front of her eyelids, making an angry red. She slowly blinked her eyes. Then opened them as the light unwrapped itself from her body. The intense sunlight made her squint. Yumi- _Akira_ -looked around. She'd been teleported to the center of a large plaza.

Stone walls formed a circle and large pathways connected it to every part of the town. Akira turned around. In front of her was a large black palace. Looking behind her, she saw she was in front of the platform of a giant clock tower.

For a moment she stared on before turning back around and going down one of the large paths.

The street was filled with players and vendors. Akira could tell who were players because they had all made themselves good-looking. The NPCs were just standing behind carts or in front of buildings, advertising goods or assisting the new players. The most of the players were in small groups.

Akira remembered Hoshiko and Kyoko with a pang. _I wonder if they're here.._

Kyoko definitely was. She remembered his face when he'd gotten his copy. Like it was his true love. Akira flash-backed with a smile. Akira wasn't sure if Hoshiko had shown up here. Well if she did, Akira would have to get Hoshiko's username sometime. Kyoko had told her his when she'd bought the game, Katsu. It was a combination of Kyoko and his last name, Katsuro. Wow, he had no imagination at all.

 _Like I'm one to speak.._

Pulling her thoughts away from that, she focused on the new world standing before her. Laughing, she starting into a sprint. Feet barely tapping the ground.

And she felt it all. As if it were really happening. The world turned into a multicolored blur around her as she passed buildings and people. Akira nearly rammed into a couple of people, barely dodging them. After a few more run-ins, she slowed into a light jog, then began to walk.

She scanned through the buildings she saw until she saw one that particularly interested her. Akira slowly opened the door and stepped in.

 _DING-A-LING-A-LING_

A bell chimed in her ears as an NPC appeared in front of her. "Welcome to the _Dragon's Claw!_ Please take a menu and have a seat!". The NPC, a neatly dressed girl smiled as Akira was teleported to a table. Her heart pounded so loud, Akira was sure everybody could hear it. _Okay, got to get use to that.._ Her heart still raced.

Akira's eyes slowly looked over the building. There were a ton of players here. A warm scent touched her nostrils. Confused, she deeply breathed in the scent. Then her eyes slowly widened in surprise. _Fish!_

 _You could cook here?_ Akira thought with amusement. And glee.

Excitedly her took a look at her menu. The smell of the cooking had aroused her hunger, even in the virtual world. _The irony._ Akira studied the menu for a few more seconds and selected an item.

 _Town of Beginnings_

Fields

 **2:35 PM**

After Akira ate some fish and soup, she found out from a swordsman on the streets the gesture to open her inventory. When he had noticed she was low on col, _Sword Art Online_ 's currency, he had lent her a brand-new one-handed sword. Akira had declined the offer, but he had said he didn't need the sword and it was taking up his inventory anyways.

And how could she refuse? But Akira still felt sorta guilty.

In addition to giving her a sword, he had also told her the best way to get col. She had to kill a bunch of the game's monsters. Same like any other game. He'd recommended a monster called Frenzy Boar. It had sounded hard, but to her it seemed easy.

Until she got there.

The boar, despite it's large body, which should have been slowing it down, it moved almost faster than her eyes could track. This time she had barely dodged it. The swordsman had never told her exactly _how_ to use her sword! Narrowing her eyes in concentration, she focused on the boar.

It stared up at her with small, red eyes that seemed to glow. Blue fur covered it's bulky body and had a flat snout and sharp tusks protruding from either side of its mouth. Akira stared on, then the creature made it's move. The beast charged at her. She in turn held her sword over her head and swung down with all her strength.

" _Kya_!", Akira cried out.

Her body lurched forward with the force of the swing. _I've got you this time!_ She thought with pride.

Then she was falling fast toward the ground. She had missed! Akira gaped as she was hit with full force and knocked to her butt on a soft patch of grass. Akira sharply looked up as the boar gave one more angry squeal and charged toward her. She tried raising her sword, but she couldn't move. That charge had stunned her, and as she looked on helplessly, Akira also noticed her HP was at thirteen percent.

Akira close her eyes and waited to be teleported back to the plaza. After what felt like hours, she opened her eyes. Then felt them widen in awe. A girl was standing in between Akira and the boar, her sword held out in front of her, blocking the tusks. She quickly lifted and swung the sword, which was now glowing orange, over her head. She had caught the boar perfectly between the eyes. The boar gave a pitiful cry and broke into tiny shards of glass.

A purple window popped up with col, exp, and items earned.

Akira continued to stare.

The girl turned around. Her avatar had a heart shaped face and golden eyes. Her shining auburn hair was very long, reaching below her hips. She looked up and met her stare.

"Are you going to keep gaping, or are you going to drink up?"

"What?" Akira's voice came out sounding astonished.

"I said, are you going to keep standing there or are you going to drink this healing potion?" She called over a small bottle filled with red liquid. She held it out in front of her. Akira took it without hesitation.

Now the girl was staring at me. "Damn! You've changed from a few seconds ago! I thought I was going to have to drink some of it myself to convince you it wasn't poisoned or something."

Akira raised an eyebrow at her. "If you wanted to kill me, you would've already. And why poison me when I'm practically already dead?" She drank the potion and her health bar slowly shot up from red to yellow to green. The girl nodded her approval. Akira wanted to ask why she was helping her, but that would seem really rude. So she decided to kept her mouth shut.

The girl turned her head to look behind Akira. Akira followed the girl's gaze to the edge of the hill. "Takeshi, Yasuo, Hisa! I know you're there! Come on out or I'll _make_ you come out!", the girl threatened.

"Shit! Madoka, how'd you know we were watching?!" A tall man with raven black hair and icy-blue eyes yelled out, approaching Madoka and Akira. Behind him came a small pink haired girl with green eyes and an even taller guy with scruffy red hair, a rough face and gentle yellow eyes.

"Magic, Takeshi, Magic", Madoka shoot at him, sticking out her tongue.

"Riiiiight, keep believing that, sweetheart.", replied Takeshi calmly. "Anyways, who's the chick?"

Akira narrowed her eyes. _Is he talking to_ me _?_

" _Takeshi!_ ", said the girl behind him. She bowed her head apologetically and looked back up at me. "I'm sorry, Takashi's being extra boneheaded today."

Takeshi's head shot up, eyes narrowed into cold slits. The girl continued on. "I'm Hisa, you've already met Takeshi.. The guy behind me is Yasou-san." Hisa held out her hand and Akira firmly shook it and Madoka's, Takeshi's, and Yasou's. "I'm Akira. Nice to meet'cha, Hisa-san, Madoka-san, Takeshi-san, Yasou-San."

"We were out on a hunting party. We had three others out with us, but they chickened out on us..", explained Madoka, noticing the questioning look on her face. "So we went on our merry way. Then we saw you getting your ass knocked, so I decided to pull an outside interference."

"But that doesn't explain why you helped me.", pointed out Akira.

Madoka nodded. "You're quick at getting used to things. Despite probably never touching a sword in your entire life, you kept good stance and have good reaction time. For a first time player. So we'd like you to join our small group. We'll teach you how to use your sword skills and how to level up. _Then_ we're going after the boss." She grinned and looked at me. "Well, what'dya say? You want to join us, Akira?"

Akira stared on, shocked by this sudden praise. then said the dumbest thing she'd ever said in her life.

"Sure! Hit me with your best shot!"

 **A/N There ends the longest chapter I've written so far! Sup, folks! Welcome to the first fanfic I've written. I spent quite some time revising and editing this chapter of the story. Please Follow, Favorite, and Review! Until next time!**


	4. Chapter 4: WhereRealityBecameAnIllusion

**Chapter 4 : Where Reality Became An Illusion**

 _Floor 1, Aincrad_

The Town of Beginnings

 ** _Sunday, November 6, 2002, 5:17 PM_**

For the moment the words slipped out of my lips, I had immediately regretted it. Now my head was reeling, a smile creeping it's way through the barriers I had set on myself.

These people were strange, and a part of me liked that. Probably because I was weird too. As I continued to stare at the sky, the sun now beginning to hide behind the horizon, my mind was replaying the things that had happened after I'd accepted their invitation.

After everyone had added me to their friend list, Madoka had herded the group over to their "secret base". It was a cave carved into the side of a dirt hill, a small circle of wood brimmed with large rocks laid in the middle of it. In front of the cave laid wide open plains, an endless forest trailing behind it. They'd started giving me a little info on boars. Apparently, they were the weakest mob in the game. That little piece of info made me ticked off, and a little embarrassed. They taught me about the weapons in SAO and how you set off sword skills.

So I trained hard with the info they gave me. Which was pretty useful. I hacked away at the boars with Hisa, while the rest were in the "base", nibbling on some bread. When the sky had begun to turn orange, Yasou had brought out a feast for six, which made a little extra for the rest of us.

The girl that had regarded these people as "strange" slowly had begun to fade away. Now I was laughing as Takeshi had teased Hisa, who blushed an impossible red. Takeshi lightly ruffled Hisa's hair, a gentle smile in his eyes. I regarded this, a little smile of my own pulling at my lips.

"Anyways, Akira, you eat a _lot._ I feel sorry for your arteries", Takeshi remarked, turning around to meet my gaze, eyebrows raised. My fist flew out, hitting him hard on the arm. "Y-you IDIOT! You've ate just as much as I have!"

Takeshi winced, rubbing his shoulder. "Damn, that hit was savage! That definitely's going to leave a mark. Look, I was just joking. Anyways that was a good swing!" Those eyes that regarded me with small attention now looked at me, a glitter of surprise showing in them. He looked the slightest bit impressed by me, for one.

I grinned at the praise. "Apology accepted."

I took a spot next to Hisa, slightly curling into the rock. The shining clock at the bottom right of my field of vision.

 _ **5:23**_

Most of the group were curled up, satisfied and feeling lazy. I looked on as Madoka let loose a loud snort. Yasou, who groaned, tossed to the other side, arm now thrown over Madoka's stomach. She muttered angrily and turned over, knocking his arm away. I fought the laughter. It looked a little cute, I had to admit that. But I'm sure if Madoka were conscious right now, she'd kill me.

I suddenly realized how different I acted in this world. How open and cut-loose. I wasn't the type to get this close to people I'd just met. Or to call them "friend". But now that I considered it, these people made that little philosophy go off rails.

I sighed and stared outside the cave, to the beautiful scarlet red sky stretching along the golden horizon. The grass and trees gently danced along the wind, as if tranced in a silent song. If I looked closer, I would see that the cloud drifting by was brimmed with the first stars. The sight took my breath away. It was so amazingly unreal, but I knew I wasn't dreaming. I suddenly wished I had my sketchbook.

As I saved a mental image in my mind for later, I felt a heavy weight on my shoulder. My head whipped around. Hisa had closed her eyes and leaned against my shoulder, asleep. I smiled and pushed a lock of hair off her nose, lightly tucking it behind her hair. I couldn't help thinking of her as a little sister. I never had one before, one that I knew, and the thought had always appealed to me.

Takeshi was watching Hisa and me. "She's taken a liking toward you.", Takeshi said, amusement brimming his voice.

I wanted to ask a question, but that particular question felt so crude, it made some heat rush to my cheeks. My lips moved against my will. "Are you guys?..." I gestured between them. Internally I was pissed at myself for asking. But I was really curious.

His eyes widened then he laughed nervously. "God, no! Hisa's my little sis. Why'd you ask?"

I was pretty sure I was blushing this time. "Just seems like you two are pretty close."

" _That_ c _lose?_ Wow. You know, you're pretty strange fo- _OW!_ " I punched him even harder on the shoulder, careful not to drop Hisa.

 _"_ Now, what'd you say?" I narrowed my eyes in mock scorn.

"That I'm sorry.", Takeshi said in an exaggerated manner.

"And?" I eyed the bread roll I'd noticed guarded behind his back.

"And that I'm not giving you any part of my bread."

I shot a glare at him. Takeshi rolled his eyes. _"Fine. We can split it. You happy now?"_

I grinned wide as he handed me half of it. "Very." Just as I started nibbling, a voice broke the silence in the cave.

"Sorry to interrupt this lovely moment, but I'm going to log out right now. Can one of you take lookout for me?"

I turned around. It'd been Yasou. His shoulders were limp, back slightly curved. His eyes dull, lids drooped into lazy slits. Takeshi pulled himself up. "Sure runt, I'll take over. I'd rather sleep, but having you for our only security right now's terrifying", Takeshi remarked. Yasou ignored that.

"Thanks. See you guys tomorrow!", Yasou announced. Madoka lazily lifted a hand and grumbled.

Yasou pulled up the menu and touched the suspended buttons. He frowned, looking confused. He kept touched buttons and finally summoned the menu away. I stared nervously. "What's up?"

He looked up saw that everyone was staring at him, except for Hisa, who was sound asleep.

"The logout button isn't there.." Yasou's eyebrows knitted together.

"Maybe your brain's a little too fried, lemme see..", Takeshi muttered, summoning his menu. After a long while his eyes widened. "Okay I doubt my brain's fried. The log-out's gone."

My heart lurched. Was it a maintenance problem? I doubted it. If that had been the problem, the GMs (Game Masters) would have notified and logged out everyone so they could fix it. Someone would have already called-

"Try calling the GMs! Maybe they can log us out themselves!", I suggested.

"Nice thinking, Aki. I'll try, but by now the GMs would be trafficked with calls."

"Aki?" My eyebrows raised at my new nickname.

Takeshi ignored me. "And the GMs don't respond. Great. Now we're stuck here until the dinguses fix it."

"Can't we just take off our NerveGear?" Yasou asked.

"If I could, I would. The NerveGear blocks off all the brain signals to the body, idiot."

I stepped in. "Sorry for not raising my hand, but can't we just wait for someone to take off the NerveGear?"

Takeshi considered this for a moment, then finally replied. "We'll have to wait for our parents to blow off their tops and rip the gear from our heads. But pulling the gear off might be dangerous. We have to find a way out before they do."

"But what choice do have?", I argued. "There's no log out button and without the GMs, what do we-?"

I was interrupted by the sound of shattering glass. My head whipped around and I saw Yasou gaping at us as the rest of his body broke away, leaving only glittering blue shards.

 **A/N I decided to tell the story from Akira's point of view, mostly because when I write these chapters, I keep typing "I" and "me" instead of "Akira" or so on. I also decided to post new chapters every Thursday or anytime before that. I'll be posting a Q &A section in here, so send up your questions! **

ʕ￫ᴥ￩ ʔ


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